Experience the Metamorphosis

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“And I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t So here’s to drinks in the dark at the end of my road And I’m ready to suffer and I’m ready to hope It’s a shot in the dark and right at my throat Cause looking for heaven, for the devil in me Looking for heaven, for the devil in me Well what the hell I’m gonna let it happen to me…”

My Yoga Practice has changed my life in some very profound ways. My Yoga Practice has transformed into a Life Practice. It has rolled right off of my mat along with me and followed me into some rough and dark terrain. It has remained faithful to me and held a candle up to light the path back when I have lost my way. It has helped teach me how important it is to be fully present in every moment. Yoga has shown me the how and the why and the way. When you practice Yoga it is like cleaning house. Eventually you get finished with the surface stuff and start to dig a little deeper. Unearthing an experience, excavating a memory, confronting a habit, taking it out and dusting it off. If it’s broken, taking a long hard look, deciding if it’s worth fixing, worth hanging on to. Perhaps looking a little deeper and making the decision that it is time to let go and get rid of it altogether. When you clear out the clutter of your body, you can’t help but clear out the clutter of your subconscious at the same time.

Life can be chaotic. We can get so caught up in getting through that we are perpetually in the surface realm of things. Stuff piles up, we bury things, and tuck them away for a more convenient time. Physical and emotional things. Yoga gives you the strength and stamina to take on and tackle those things in life that scare you the most. It provides you with the tools you need and the patience to try again when you don’t get it right the first time. Your practice helps illuminate those corners that are the darkest and most frightening. Rather than turning away from and avoiding discomfort, you will face it head on. You will chase those things down that make you the most uncomfortable because you want to be free!

When I find myself becoming burdened or weighted down, I reread these words:

“Do not let one moment go by that doesn’t remind you that your heart beats 100,000 times a day and that there are enough gallons of blood to make every one of you oceans. Do not settle for letting these waves settle and the dust to collect in your veins.

Walk into it, breathe it in, let it crash through the halls of your arms at the millions of years of millions of poets coursing like blood pumping and pushing making you live, shaking the dust so when the world knocks at your front door, clutch the knob and open on up, running forward into its widespread greeting arms with your hands in front of you, fingertips trembling though they may be.”

Thank you Anis for writing these powerful words! Thank you, Elena, for sharing them! These words have become my mantra. I am filled with gratitude for my teachers and for the practice of Yoga.